<p>Hello,</p>
<p>Would love some suggestions for a few smaller private schools to add to daughters list of schools. Open to any location, does not want a huge classes, interested in building personal relationships with professors and students. </p>
<p>Presently, she is attending a private all-girls college prep school, has taken all honor core classes, along with three AP classes. Students can only begin AP courses Junior year, grading scale is 93% is an A, 83% B, etc... Non weighted honors classes, school does not rank students. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Interests and strengths are: English and Science, still unsure exactly which direction she wants to go....</p>
<p>Brief Snapshot:
GPA is 3.75
Strong Leadership Positions/Accomplishments
National Teen Advisory Board (medical)
Academic All State Student Athlete
Four years Varsity Poms
State Championship Team
Nationally Rank Team
Four Years School Orchestra
Heavy Community Service
National Honor Society Tutor</p>
<p>Does she want co-ed or women’s college - or either?</p>
<p>My ESP is on the fritz today…lol jk…</p>
<p>Can we at least narrow down which coast?</p>
<p>Thank you for your quick response! Preferably, co-Ed and either coast…</p>
<p>My knowledge is limited to what D and I visited/considered at some point, but here goes:</p>
<p>Occidental in California
Pomona (reach) or Claremont-McKenna - California
Wesleyan - Connecticut</p>
<p>I am not much help b/c the rest for us were a super reach, mid-sized universities or women’s colleges. There are TONS more out there, but we didn’t look at them all!</p>
<p>If she’s interested in the west coast, then I would recommend both Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College. Both are nationally recognized liberal arts schools and have gorgeous campuses.</p>
<p>SAT/ACT or PSAT? Is she starting her junior year this fall? I confess that I never used the 4 pt scale, and I’ve never been clear on what a 3.75 means. Is that a B+ or an A-? Does that mean that her grades are mostly some kind of A, with maybe one B+ per semester/year?</p>
<p>Consolation,</p>
<p>She will be beginning Senior year, so she has one more semester to raise her grades, she will be taking four AP classes which should help considerably. We too, are unsure exactly what 3.75 equals college application wise, but at her high school it is does make the A scale.</p>
<p>Her sophomore PSAT score was 172, scheduled to take first round of ACT/SAT in the fall. She is studying and prepping for both tests this summer.</p>
<p>I LOVE my college for exactly the things that she’s looking for. Earlham College has small class sizes, first-name basis with all faculty (I call the president of the college David, he’s a cool guy, thoughtful man, and a great basketball player), professors which are incredibly dedicated to their students, and a lot of student-teacher collaboration. We’re particularly strong in the sciences, language, and international studies (20% of our student body is international), but all of our departments are good for the reasons I’ve listed.</p>
<p>Other college I recommend checking out include Guilford College, Beloit College, and Oberlin College. All like different flavors of ice cream - comparable academics, but different feels and emphases.</p>
<p>Assuming the SAT will be on par with the PSAT score, I’d recommend going to the library & picking up Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope.</p>
<p>There is also a CTCL website. The book gives in-depth description. The website only lists schools. The message of the book will outline what to look for in a college environment for schools out side of the top 25.</p>
<p>You may also want to consider looking at schools that are SAT optional. </p>
<p>I’d run some search sites using an SAT of 1700-1900 based upon the PSAT.</p>
<p>Generally, a 3.66 is considered A-.</p>
<p>Do you have any financial constraints?</p>
<p>Each college website has a Net Price Calculator that you should run. For our income bracket Pomona and Occidental determine our financial need very differently.</p>
<p>Is she a good writer? Sewanee (university of the south) is a very neat school that is now test optional, but if you don’t submit test scores I think they want a school graded paper to read (not clear on details but check them out). Not as selective as Davidson, W&L which are also good.</p>
<p>I think there are many, many schools which fit your description. Because she is at a private school, do the guidance counselors have a good idea of what places might be a fit for someone like your D? I am surprised that they did not push her to take the SAT already, as that number can affect where you look.</p>
<p>In the middle Atlantic, for smaller schools, you could check out Dickinson, Gettysburg, Ursinus, McDaniel, Susquehanna. . .that’s just off the top of my head. Try to do a search on CB or somewhere and throw some names out that sound good to you and perhaps people will suggest others.</p>
<p>3.7 gpa and 1900 will likely get you decent
merit at …</p>
<p>Centre College
Rhodes College
Hendrix College</p>
<p>All great schools with small classes. Run
the net price calculator for each.</p>
<p>Marlboro College in Vermont.</p>
<p>For private prep HS students, students can typically raise their PSAT scores about 20 pts from soph to junior year. Did she get about 192 for junior PSAT? And with practice tests, prep on weaker sections, she might be able to raise it to about 2000-or higher on SAT. I’d suggest she take it more than once to use highest section scores for better outcome.</p>
<p>There are many many schools with small class size and personal attention for a good student like your D. Like others have suggested, you may want to speak to the GC at school or check naviance, if your school has it, to get ballpark idea of where she’d be a match or a reach.</p>
<p>Pitzer, Scripps, Scripps and Claremont. If she gets into any of them, she can take classes in any of them (including Harvey Mudd).</p>
<p>She’s above the average gpa at Loyola New Orleans (my current school, our incoming class gpa was 3.66, I think) but it has, in my opinion, everything else you are looking for. It’s a very small school (around 3,000 undergrad) and you get to know your teachers and classmates in the 30 student max intro classes (with very few exceptions). And since the school is small and doesn’t offer every class she may want to take, she can take them at Tulane next door for no extra cost (like the example above for the Claremont colleges in CA). They also give excellent merit scholarships, she’ll definitely get one with that gpa. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions about Loyola or Tulane. Good luck in the college search!</p>
<p>What kind of a kid is she? And what kind of an environment does she want? Recommendations on this thread range from Sewanee to Oberlin to the Claremonts… all very different schools with different atmospheres.</p>
<p>Does she want a city? How does she feel about a rural campus? How does she feel about sororities? Does she want to be able to come home easily, or does she want to go far away so she feels more like she is “on her own?”
Is there a particular political vibe that she wants?<br>
How small? 400-600 students?
2000? 5000?
What about a religious affiliation? would she be comfortable with a catholic school?</p>
<p>New York: Hobart, William Smith, Hamilton, Elmira, Marist, Ithaca,</p>
<p>MA: Western New England, Assumption, Endicott, Williams, Amherst</p>
<p>NH: St. Anselm’s</p>
<p>VT: Middlebury, St. Michael’s</p>
<p>ME: Colby, Bowdoin, </p>
<p>CT: Trinity, Wesleyan</p>
<p>I tend to choose schools where I know students have had successful experiences. </p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Sewanee might be a good bet for merit aid for her. Since she has great leadership background and heavy community service experience, she’d probably fit in well at Sewanee if she doesn’t mind a slightly rural campus (Nashville and Chattanooga approx. an hour each way).</p>